Families
by yumeniai
Summary: After hurt and betrayal, what is left for Yugi but to go forward? "What am I getting myself into," he asked himself, before glancing at the slumbering trio. 'For them,' he thought, 'for them.' AU from end of future arc and before MW. No Pairings.
1. Chapter 1

**Families**

**Chapter One - Families**

**A KHR and YGO crossover (I do believe this is the first!**** Apart from my one-shot anyway…)**

**By Yumeniai**

**Disclaimer: Don't own KHR or YGO. This is for the whole fic, because I'll forget for the rest of it. **

* * *

It wasn't anyone's fault. The ritual hadn't been described like that in the books, and should have given the three yamis their own bodies without the glitches that occurred, though Yugi was almost certain that those glitches were intentional, at least in the two less pleasant yami's cases.

They had argued about what to do with the three toddlers for hours afterwards. The first idea of having the hikaris look after their respective yamis had been shot down in a second. Then the tomb keepers wanted to keep Atemu as he 'belonged with his own people'. That was also shot down; a yami couldn't live without a hikari without descending into madness.

The discussion went on for hours; nobody was quite sure of what should happen to Yami Yugi. But as for the other two, the decision was almost unanimous. They were evil; they had proven it multiple times before. And now they were defenseless. They wouldn't become evil if they didn't exist.

Execution. That word rattled around in Yugi's head for a few moments before he exploded.

"They're children! They're not even two yet! You can't possibly think of … killing children that can't even speak properly!"

His friends looked at him, frowning. "Yugi, think about it. Their souls have already grown up; their natures can't be changed," Anzu replied.

"Yeah, what if they try to kill us again?" Jou added.

"How do you know that? If raised right, who says they won't become better people?" Yugi shouted back, tears building up. "They're just children …"

"Children that could grow to destroy the world. I'm sorry, Yugi, but that's the best action to take. Small sacrifices must be made for the greater good of the world," Isis murmured, almost in sympathy.

"Look, both Ryou and I know how evil those two are, closer than first hand. They'll try to destroy the world again if left alone with their own bodies!" Marik added, his fingers twisted in his shirt.

Yugi took one look at the three trembling bundles of blankets, shook his head and said, "If that's really how you feel, I won't accept it. I'll raise them. They can be better people, just watch!"

And that's how Yugi ended up going home in a taxi, watching the three shivering bodies with a sad smile while the rain poured outside.

* * *

Both Yugi and Yami (Atemu, he reminded himself) had been so happy when an excited Isis had told them of a ritual that could give Yami (Atemu, Yugi reminded himself again) his own body. His friends had also been happy for them, while Ryou and Marik hadn't been able to wait to get their respective yamis out of their heads. They had agreed to perform the ritual the following Sunday, and had been so excited for the rest of the week.

It seemed all was going well at first, with all-too-familiar gold light emitting from the Millennium Items, hazy figures being drawn out from the three hikari's chests. Then the light had turned into a murderous red, and all three hikari's had fallen to the floor in agony inside translucent cylinders of that bloody red that had appeared around them.

When the three hikaris had come to, around the same times, the ritual was over and three trembling bodies had been huddled in the centre of the room, each looking no older than two. Their physical and mental ages seemed to correspond to the number of years Yami had been a part of Yugi, despite the ancient state of the spirits residing in the newly created bodies.

'Transmutation,' Isis had called it. It was a process of 'equivalent exchange', and would usually demand a price for receiving the souls meant to reside inside the artificially created bodies. The spirits, however, were already there; no price was exchanged, and the anger of the body that guarded the 'gate' which was key in this process was what caused the pain the three hikaris had felt.

The discussion of just _what to do_ with the three children commenced shortly after the three yamis had run to their hikaris and tried to cling onto them, only to be brushed away by Ryou and Marik in what seemed like fear. Yugi had hugged his yami briefly before gathering the three children and giving them blankets (supplied by Isis) to cover their naked state. Yugi suspected they were only meant for Yami, but used them for all three anyway. He had moved them to a corner, glaring at Ryou and Marik for their callousness while the two looked disturbed and nervous at the presence of the yamis that had made their lives complete hell.

Grandpa had been so proud of what Yugi had done, and shook his head at Yugi's friend's coldness. Grandpa had dug out a mattress from somewhere, and Yugi tucked the three children into his considerably larger bed before falling asleep on the mattress. He woke with Atemu clinging to him anyway.

The next morning had been close to normal, until a knock at the door signified the arrival of several armed members of the tomb keeper clan. Yugi, having learnt a little of Shadow Magic from Atemu, quickly dispatched the misguided group without much damage to the offenders. Grandpa had then decided it was no longer safe in Japan.

"Grandpa, I'll be fine!" Yugi said for the umpteenth time, trying to force-feed Bakura and Malik a semblance of breakfast, while Atemu sat next to them, eating quietly.

"Look at what happened today! I don't think that's very 'fine' at all! Yugi, you know many languages, you'd be able to settle in so many different places with your personality. And you can ask Kaiba to get passports for the three children. You'd be able to start a new life, and take care of the three children easier that way." Solomon insisted.

Yugi tuned out his grandpa as Bakura started crying, Malik quickly following.

* * *

Yugi saw just how right his grandpa was the next day, when he decided to chance school again. His friends … even though they were in the same class, they ignored him. Even Anzu, forever preaching about friendship, refused to look at him the entire day. When Yugi went home that day, it was nearly in tears.

His grandfather had also had a very difficult day, by the expression he wore. It seems the three children still didn't trust anybody except Yugi, and even that was a tentative trust at best. They had refused to eat, or even sleep – they had simply cried all day.

That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

* * *

The next day saw Yugi and his three protégés in front of the Kaiba mansion, hesitantly speaking to a security guard through the gates. Before the guard could even reach for his phone, however, the gates were opened and Mokuba ran out from the front doors, grabbing Yugi around his waist.

"Nii-sama told me what happened, that was awful what they did! Are you alright now, wow, are those really Yami, Bakura and Malik, they're so cute!"

Yugi laughed at the younger teen's hyperactive behavior, letting himself be led to the Kaiba Mansion front doors to confront his long-time rival.

Yugi smiled at Kaiba. "Hi, Kaiba-kun."

He frowned in reply. "What do you want, Yugi."

Mokuba kicked him, before smiling at Yugi again. "Please come in. I'm sorry nii-sama obviously lacks proper manners," earning an almost startled laugh from Yugi. Once again, he followed the brothers, making sure Atemu, Bakura and Malik followed closely behind.

Through the mansion they went, while Yugi marveled at the expensive interior. All surfaces shone as if incased in ice, and every second painting, statue or other decoration had something to do with dragons. Up another set of stairs, and in the centre of what seemed to be a living room stood a Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon fountain, made of sparkling crystal.

'Not obsessed with dragons … sure …" Yugi muttered to himself, receiving a glare from Kaiba.

"Once again, I ask you. What are you doing here?" the older Kaiba snapped, obviously annoyed at being dragged away from work.

"You know what happened?" That was a moot point; of course, he knew. Kaiba was actually the first to find out about the ritual, and had heard the results from Isis as soon as Yugi had walked out, and Yugi knew this. Kaiba knew _everything_. He was a master at gathering information. "Anyway, grandpa convinced me yesterday that the best thing to do would be to get out of the country. Everyone knows who I am here; I'm the top world duelist."

Kaiba _winced_, before nodding for Yugi to continue.

"Yeah. I'm sure you also know we were attacked the other day, by members of Marik's clan. They said something about the 'abomination being a disgrace to the clan' or something; I don't really understand clan politics but it looks like they'll keep up these attacks unless we're far away. As I know quite a lot of languages, I was wondering if you could get passports for these three, and suggest countries for us to go to, where duel monsters isn't that popular," Yugi finally finished.

Kaiba glared at Yugi. "And why should I help you?"

Once again, Mokuba kicked him. "Nii-sama will definitely help, right?" He looked up at the older Kaiba with puppy-dog eyes, making Seto twitch.

"Fine. You said you know many languages. How many is that exactly?"

"Well, obviously I know Japanese. I also know ancient Egyptian and Arabic from when Yami was in my head; my interest in Arabic came when I found out where the puzzle was from, when I first got it. I also know English quite well, and I can speak Chinese, but I can't write most of it. I get it confused with kanji. Um …" here he trailed off, thinking hard. "I think I also know French, German, a bit of Latin and Greek … Oh! And Italian."

The Kaiba brothers stared at the tri-coloured teen. "Yugi," Mokuba said slowly, "Why do you know so many languages?"

"Grandpa taught me after my parents died. He says it took my mind off the accident. I don't really remember that time very well," Yugi smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Anyway, suggestions? Where is Duel Monsters not that popular?"

Mokuba thought for a moment, before listing off, "China is definitely out; you need to be able to write too, and Duel Monsters is very popular there. That also rules out America. KaibaCorp is planning to open a new branch in Britain in the new year; the building's already in construction and Duel Monsters have been officially released there; it's becoming very popular, so that also rules out Britain. Australia … you don't want to go there, there are too many deserts and Malik would probably be uncomfortable there, with his past and all … that leaves New Zealand? No, too small, you'd be bored in days, and not enough options to support you there. You'd be crazy to go to Egypt. France and Germany both have very active duelists. The only option left seems to be Italy. And KaibaCorp was planning to release Italian versions of the cards too … we can put that off for a few years I suppose."

Yugi nodded. "My Italian's decent, but I still need passports, for these three. They probably also need other documents, like birth certificates and stuff like that." He smiled at the three children, of which Yami was in the process of climbing the fountain, while Bakura and Malik quickly followed, trying to outdo the former.

"I'm making the preparations now," replied Kaiba, tapping at his laptop. "Names?"

"Make all the last names Mutou; first names will be Yami, Bakura and Malik."

Seto quirked an eyebrow. "Not Atemu? Date of births?"

"Names hold power, and the name of an ancient Pharaoh even more so. Um … I'm not actually sure. I don't want to give them the same birthdays as their hikaris; it would be obvious to anyone looking through their files that they're too similar. What about a week ago, when we preformed the ritual?" Yugi replied with a puzzled frown.

"All three with the same birthday? Ok … ages?"

"Two, I suppose."

And so it went on, making up information that would define the three boys for the rest of their lives.

* * *

It was with surprise and no small amount of trepidation that Yugi looked at the forged documents for Yami, Bakura and Malik. It didn't surprise him much that the documents weren't genuine; it would've been impossible for him to say the three boys were newborns, and even more impossible to make up a plausible story for why there weren't any previous records for them. His own passport, not yet expired after his last trip to America just a few months ago, was still safely stored away.

It was no small task getting the three inquisitive boys onto the Kaiba private jet plane, the other plane that wasn't in the shape of a Blue Eyes; that one was far too small. Kaiba was driving; he said something about 'making arrangements', which Mokuba later explained was his way of saying, 'You did the right thing.' Yugi shook his head at that; he'd suspected something along those lines. Mokuba also explained that they were staying, at least temporarily, at one of Seta's business associate's homes, until they could either get their own place or decided to move again.

Yugi had initially protested at this, but eventually gave in to the older Kaiba's glare and the younger's puppy eyes. It also seemed Seto had taken the liberty of exchanging some of Yugi's inheritance from his parents to Italian Euros. Yugi was actually quite rich, as Seto discovered after consulting Yugi's grandpa; his father had been a very successful researcher and archeologist, and his mother an actress, until their deaths in a car crash when Yugi was young. That had also led to Yugi's knowledge of languages; the many languages he learnt were the remainder of the time he spent trying to get over their accident.

At security, he had been nervous. Would the passports be enough to fool international security? Apparently so, as there were no problems in getting out of the country.

The plane trip was better than Yugi expected, if only because he didn't have to deal with staring passengers. Of the three boys, Yami and Bakura stared out of the window at liftoff. Yugi pulled them back in after they had reached above cloud level, where the bright sun could damage their eyesight. Malik had fallen asleep at the start of the trip, and was mostly quiet; he woke up once in the middle and started crying, and to Yugi's dismay, was quickly joined by the other two frightened children. After he had gotten them calmed down, and gave them some food (once again supplied by Kaiba), they had eventually fallen asleep.

Mokuba smiled at the children's antics, as Seto came from the cockpit after putting the jet on autopilot. He directed Yugi to where some beds were at the back, and a very grateful Yugi deposited his three protégés onto the largest, tucking them in and smiling at their lack of response.

The boys had learnt to trust Yugi in the weeks between their arrival into the physical world and the journey to Italy. They listened to his instructions and accepted whatever he gave them, Yami being the first to completely trust Yugi, with Bakura quickly following as to not be outdone by his rival, and Malik eventually doing the same to avoid feeling left out. The language barrier was still a problem; it seems that though Yami knew all the languages that Yugi did, Bakura and Malik hadn't learnt Italian before.

As the trip progressed, Kaiba explained to Yugi about the school he and grandpa had enrolled Yugi in.

"It's a private school, very large, but also very exclusive. It was the only school that you could have attended while looking after the children; they allow many … special circumstances. It works in a different system than the rest of Italian schools. Ask the people you will be meeting about it. They will explain."

"Um … have you chosen classes yet?"

The answer was crisp. "No. Ask them about it."

Yugi creased his brow. "Who are these people I'll be staying with? And will I really be no trouble for them? I'd hate to impose …"

Kaiba sighed before replying, rubbing his temples in a clear headache. "They, well, the new multi-billionaire CEO of Vongola Corp and chairman of the Vongola Group is the owner of the property you'll be staying at. The previous president retired a few months ago. The new president is still getting adjusted, but he is currently attending the same school that you will be, in the same year as well. He is also Japanese." Kaiba paused, before continuing. "His name is Tsunayoshi Sawada, and I believe he also has several friends with him as his board, vice-presidents and bodyguards in some cases." Yugi leaned forward in his seat, intrigued.

"Oh! How old is he?" asked Yugi, his eyes wide.

"I believe he is 17. He is currently the world's youngest CEO."

Mokuba smiled, knowing his brother was just the slightest bit bitter about being uprooted in his spot of 'youngest'. Oh well, he still held the record. He turned at Yugi's reply.

"Wow! So how do you know him?"

"Business associate."

Knowing his brother wouldn't elaborate further, Mokuba explained.

"Vongola is the world's largest corporation. They deal in everything, including KaibaCorp's games. Nii-sama had a meeting with Tsuna-san a couple of months before. It was a really interesting meeting. I wonder how it was arranged." At this, the elder Kaiba blushed very uncharacteristically, and Yugi seemed to remember an incident involving a strange girl who had stayed at Ryou's house for a while. "He's really shy and clumsy. His friends are funny too." Mokuba smiled at the memories of watching Tsuna trying to break up a fight between his two best friends. "His friends fight a lot though. I wonder how any of them are still alive …"

Mokuba's eyes clouded over in intense contemplation as Kaiba snorted. "He is an idiot at worst, barely tolerable at best. He's no good at games, though he can excel in physical fighting … at certain times, as I am told."

Yugi only felt more nervous as Mokuba continued his descriptions of what he called 'the Vongola Family', his stories getting crazier and crazier. 'What am I getting myself into?' he asked himself, before glancing at the still slumbering trio at the back of the plane. 'For them,' he thought, 'for them.'

* * *

**A/N: Uh … yeah, this idea was floating around for a while, and I decided it was a good idea to use in a story. I really have no idea if anybody would read this, as KHR crossovers don't seem to be that popular, though YGO does … anyway, for whomever reading this, I think I'll finish the story. I think. I've already got ****three chapters written out, so I hope I'll finish this. I'm also very sorry if it's confusing; I'll try to clear up any questions as well as I can!**

**And you'll notice that I messed with Yugi-tachi's ages a bit. That's because they have to be in high school, otherwise this concept wouldn't work. If you're curious, they're all in their first year in high school, and all of the Yu-Gi-Oh adventures happened in middle school. **

**Please review, I'd really like to see what others think of this. I'm hopeless at writing chaptered stories; I can't get the plot to slow down enough, so this is practice for school. **

**I'm crediting the 'turned into children' idea to esama, who did such an amazing job with her 'Bit of a Change' (though it's still not completed …). I don't think I'll do the idea justice though … I'll try my best!**


	2. Chapter 2

**F****amilies**

**Chapter Two - Italy**

**A KHR and YGO crossover **

**By Yumeniai**

* * *

_It was cloudy again._

_Tsuna stood on the roof of Namimori, flanked by Gokudera and Yamamoto. _

"_Are you guys sure?" he asked them with a small frown. _

_Gokudera grinned. "Anything for the Tenth!"_

_Yamamoto smiled confidently and slung an arm around Tsuna. "We agreed to this two years ago, remember? We'll stay with you."_

_Tsuna smiled, a little hesitant, a little sad. "Then we'll agree to go?"_

_Reborn hopped off the balcony where he had been watching. "You don't have a choice, dame-Tsuna. And your guardians will go wherever you do."_

"_HIIEE! Reborn!" Tsuna spun around and fell over. "Aww, you ruined the moment!"_

_Reborn smirked, and below them, Chrome stood with her back to the wall, invisible, and raised her head to the sky. Above them, Hibari sighed as he laid on the upper roof. Hibird fluttered down and landed on his hand, outstretched towards their – __**his**__ – future. And just inside, on the other side of the door, Ryohei listened, and smiled. The family would soon begin their true reign. _

_A plane to Italy was boarded the next day, and the Tenth Generation of the Vongola Famiglia ascended to their destiny. _

Tsuna awoke from his dream, and rolled over lazily, groaning. Those memories, less than two months old, were already feeling as if they belonged to another life.

"Decimo! Breakfast is ready!" A knock startled Tsuna out of his daze. He shook his head; this had happened every morning since he had arrived in Italy, but he was still not quite used to it.

"Thank you," he replied to the servant outside his door. He stretched and yawned, wanting nothing more than the warmth of his bed. But the threat of fiercer than normal training hung over his head, so it was with haste that he clambered out of bed and dressed.

After a brief but constructive visit to the bathroom, he ran his hands through his messy, spiky brown hair and quickly left for the dining room.

All his meals in the Vongola Mansion were eaten in the large, imposing dining room. Usually, he'd be joined by Kyuudaime, Reborn and his guardians, though Hibari and Mukuro noticeably only attended half the time.

This morning was like the previous few, and Tsuna yawned almost pitifully as he sat down, between Gokudera and Kyuudaime. He greeted the older man politely and replied to Gokudera's overenthusiastic greeting, and Yamamoto's cheerful one. Ryohei ran in a few minutes later, hair still half wet, and gave everyone an 'extreme' greeting.

Reborn … was somewhere. Tsuna really didn't need (nor want) to know where.

After their return from the future, Tsuna had had nightmares for months. True to Reborn's harsh teaching methods, not once had he been woken from them – rather, he was left to suffer them by himself until Reborn had finally become so fed up that he sent Tsuna to each of his guardians in turn. A week with each eventually helped Tsuna resolve his determination once again, and reconcile himself with both the act and his future. He had killed. If he continued on this path, he would kill again. It was inevitable no matter how hard he fought against it, and he could do nothing except accept it, and move on.

Besides, he'd seen how his nightmares had affected his guardians. His break in resolve … none of his guardians handled it very well.

Gokudera had, several times, proclaimed that he would protect Tsuna from the mafia lifestyle. He had pledged to protect his Tenth, and to preserve what was left of his innocence.

Later, Tsuna's nightmares had instead revolved around seeing his friend's hands blackened with blood, smiling brightly at him. Unacceptable.

Yamamoto reacted similarly, asking Squalo to train him in preparation for their unavoidable battles. Thankfully, in Tsuna's opinion, he had heard about Yamamoto's request and prevented Squalo from coming. Unlike Xanxus, he would protect his friends – not the other way around.

Thankfully, in his week with Ryohei they spent every day training so much that Tsuna could do nothing but collapse into bed afterwards. That week was the most restful he had until his nightmares finally ceased.

Lambo, of course, had already known of Tsuna's frequent early morning screams. Though he had no idea of just why his Tsuna-nii was so distressed, he was often annoyed at being woken from his own sleep and screamed just as often as a result. Refusing to come into the same room as Tsuna eventually took its toll on both boys, ending in a series of heartfelt apologies and a newfound determination to protect their Family from everything – including Tsuna himself.

Chrome was full of gentle shaking and soft whispering; carefully drawing him from the horrors of sleep, while Mukuro's pitying façade comforted the boy, until his dreams blurred from hopeless to almost pleasant. Tsuna found the absolute indifference to be worse than his previously tortured nights. Chrome herself was spared most of Tsuna's initial nights, but the imprinted memories resolved her resolution to protect the kind boy for the rest of his life. Typically, Mukuro only laughed at the boy's tears. Nonetheless, he did as Chrome asked of him, and helped Tsuna through both those nights and the following ones until finally the nightmares became rarer, eroded with illusions.

However, this did not save Tsuna from Hibari's wrath at Tsuna's apparent 'weakness'. The Prefect, who had killed before and would again without as much as a blink or smile, beat Tsuna senseless for every night he woke up his host. The sterner boy did not understand Tsuna's regret and told him so in no uncertain terms – the putting down of a monster was not only the lesser of two evils, if Tsuna had not done it himself, Hibari would have found some way to do it. Though aching when finally released back into the arms of sleep, Hibari's frequent lectures eventually came through and helped Tsuna work through those problems.

He still felt sorry for taking another's life, but he didn't regret it. If he had to go through that again, he would do absolutely nothing differently, in regards to the death of Byakuran, anyway. Uni however … that was a constant source of restlessness and remorse.

Tsuna sighed. That had been … what, two years ago? Now he was going to a mafia-orientated high school. Looking back, the years of fireworks and fun had passed so quickly, into their current years of endless training.

Though he couldn't help but feel as if he'd forgotten something important … something about his schedule today …

He'd mostly lost his no-good personality, but it still showed up at the worst of times.

His thoughts were brought back to reality by another servant, who started reading his schedule for the day.

"From nine to ten, you have training. From ten to lunch, you will be working under Vongola Nono. After lunch, you are to pick up Kaiba-sama and his friends, and help them settle in. You have training again before dinner, however, and after dinner, you will be signing paperwork. At eight, you have training again …"

Tsuna groaned. That was what he'd forgotten. After their meeting half a year previously, they'd kept in touch, but Kaiba was still reluctant to accept apologies relating to the property damage that Tsuna's guardians had incurred in his manor. This favor that Tsuna was doing him was, in both their opinions, the last step in finally repaying the Kaiba brothers. But the older Kaiba could be as scary as Hibari-san at times! His glare …

Tsuna shivered, unaware that that was exactly what others thought of him in 'hyper dying will' mode.

* * *

His first training session was with Hibari. He was, of course, there far before Tsuna was, and was sitting, staring at the ceiling, bored. He glared at Tsuna as Tsuna walked in.

"Sorry, Hibari-san! I didn't think you'd be here so early!" Tsuna greeted Hibari normally – those words had become akin to a ritual every time they had training together.

"Shut up, herbivore. I'll bite you to death."

Tsuna quickly accessed his 'hyper dying will' mode, as he'd been able to without the pills or bullets ever since they'd returned from the future for the second time. He dodged Hibari's predictable attack, straight at him as always, and prepared a quick counter.

They exchanged blows quicker than eyes could easily follow (though with the amount of training the two did daily, even with intense concentration, they were moving too fast). Purple flames covered Hibari's customized tonfa as they started in earnest, Tsuna's Sky flames well matched against Hibari's Cloud.

They jumped back, and unleashed their box weapons. Hibari's hedgehog had already transformed to handcuffs, and Nuts quickly changed to the First's Cloak.

It was intense as always. All of Hibari's attacks were deflected perfectly by Tsuna's cloak, but Tsuna was unable to launch many attacks of his own with Hibari's speedy counters. As their battle neared climax, Tsuna jumped clear and floated above Hibari, starting to charge up his X-Burner.

A vicious grin spread across the Cloud's face, and he leapt to meet Tsuna in midair, forcing Tsuna to abandon his attempts at attacking in favor of defending against Hibari's brutal handcuffs; he knew from experience that if even one so much as touched his body, he would become bound by them, and by Hibari's sadism. Last time he'd been bound, Hibari hadn't let him go until Reborn came and dragged Tsuna – still bound – away to sign paperwork. He'd sported bruises for weeks afterwards.

A bell signaled the end of their booked time in that particular training room, and applause filled the room as the spectators congratulated both participants on a great match. Both had frozen at the bell. Their final positions showed Tsuna's gloves at Hibari's neck, and Hibari's handcuffs spinning, poised to capture Tsuna's hands.

Tsuna sighed in relief as he relaxed his stance. Another draw, another day to live … the day he won was the day that Hibari would start constantly stalking him for another fight (like he did with Mukuro), while whenever Hibari won signified another day of relentless torture in the sadistic hands of his tutor and cloud guardian.

A kick from nowhere made Tsuna fall, right onto Hibari, who smirked and drew his tonfa again, and started beating the now defenseless Tsuna. He only faintly heard Reborn's voice before fainting.

"Never let down your guard, Dame-Tsuna."

* * *

Tsuna was rudely woken with a bucket of water, and quickly led to his room to shower, change, then report to Timteo's office (in that order).

Standing completely straight then bending formally at the waist at a perfect 70o angle, Tsuna apologized for his unpunctuality. He'd learned impeccable manners from the Ninth and Reborn during his etiquette training. Even after Tsuna's takeover of Vongola, he still treated Nono with the respect one reserves for the Boss.

Timteo smiled kindly. "Do not worry over it, Tsunayoshi. It has already been explained to be by Reborn. Work harder on your vigilance next time." And just like that, the matter was dismissed. Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief. Once he'd been late for an official meeting with a neutral family, who'd been so insulted by his tardiness that the allegiance being discussed was questioned extensively. There'd been a lot of damage control over that incident (though once again his lateness wasn't Tsuna's fault! He'd been tied up and hung upside-down from a closet's ceiling by Reborn, who had claimed that if he was determined enough, he'd be able to escape and make it to the meeting in time!), and the Ninth had been so angry that even Tsuna's right to succeed as the Tenth had been in doubt by the rest of the family. The metaphorical ice-age that followed within the family and the actual beating Tsuna had received from the Ninth AND Xanxus in turn almost had him hospitalized. Actually, he should've been; but the affairs of Vongola stay within Vongola, and so Tsuna was forced to recuperate (while working) at home instead.

Tsuna shuddered. He had no desire to ever repeat that again; from then on, he always made a point to be early for official meetings and at least on time for all others. However, the damage was done both to his reputation and to his psyche.

Training with the Ninth wasn't physical in any way, unless the proper way of reading and considering different sorts of paperwork counted. And there were many different categories that paperwork in general were sorted into; mission reports, requests for missions from other families, damage control, different areas of cooperate Vongola and the taxes, costs and income that comes from each of them them, the monetary earnings of underground Vongola, reports involving spies and moles in other Families as well as their own, decisions about the punishment of spies and traitors of Vongola … the list went on and on. All different types required a specific mindset, and if muddled, then the results could quite possibly be disastrous. One must not be thinking of monetary gain when assessing which missions to take up, for instance, as that would result only in corrupt dealings. Similarly underground businesses were not to be mixed with the legal corporations under the Vongola Group.

Really, the entire affair made Tsuna's head spin. But there was nothing he could do about it; he had to go through them all in the end, and his only saving grace was the brief respites he was allowed between each group of paperwork to reset his current mindset.

Tsuna sometimes wondered if that meant that he now had dozens of split personalities; CEO, Vongola Guardian of Sky, kind Vongola Boss, Crime Boss (the two were very different things, as the first was warmly compassionate, and the second coldly ruthless) …

Tsuna really didn't think his sanity was all that intact anymore.

But he strived to be like his guardians; they didn't _suffer_ from insanity, they cheerfully enjoyed every moment of it instead.

… Or he could just jump off the roof of the tallest Vongola owned high-rise and be done with it.

Sometimes he really didn't think anyone would care if he did that. Then he remembered his friends, and decided that he wouldn't have to do that. His friends would kill him prematurely anyway, either through worry, or accidentally during one of their brawls. Both were equally likely, in Tsuna's opinion.

He'll never understand why his enemies still insist on trying to assassinate him when the Vongola Guardians were far more likely to succeed, in less time and with less overall bloodshed too.

* * *

Lunch passed too quickly for Tsuna's liking, and all too soon, he was at a private sector of the airport, reserved for private jets and planes. Of course, Vongola had its own airport; however, customs were still necessary as the people with the Kaibas were staying semi-permanently in Sicily.

Tsuna waited with baited breath for their arrival. It seemed like hours, but still far too soon, when the Kaiba's larger customized jet finally landed.

Young Mokuba hurtled out first, followed quickly by a young-looking boy only a bit taller than Mokuba (shorter than himself, Tsuna inwardly thought, but not by much; they were about the same height if hair was counted). His hair was multi-colored, shades of black, magenta and blonde sticking out proudly. He was still too far away to make out his eye colour, but his face seemed soft and round, childish like Tsuna's. Going through the list of arrivals in his head, Tsuna concluded that this must be Mutou Yugi. Quickly running after him were three children. All had skin darker than was normal for Japanese people, and spiky hair; the first had a miniature copy of Yugi's, the second had a blinding, snow-white mane, while the third sported an unruly head of blond, contrasting starkly with his darker skin. Flashes and glints of gold reflected off the three; all of them wore ridiculous amounts of jewelry, in the shape of anklets, armbands, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings and even circlets, in the case of the child with multicolored hair. Yugi wore the least; he only had glints at his ears and around his neck.

Tsuna smiled wryly. Already their appearances suggested eccentricity; they would fit right in at Vongola.

His train of thought braked abruptly. _These people didn't know about the Vongola's Mafia involvement._

Quickly, his brain tried to process ideas on just _what to do_. If they didn't already know, the knowledge must be kept away from them. Hopefully they wouldn't be staying long-term, but that was a hope quickly dashed as he remembered a phrase in his phone conversation with Seto Kaiba;

"_They will be staying indefinitely, either until the children have grown old enough so that they are no longer a burden on Yugi, or until their situation in Japan has calmed down enough so that they won't be attacked for setting foot in a public place. I would advise that you not count on the__ latter; the first is far more likely."_

And his mind blanked. He was going to a Mafia-only school for fuck's sake! He'd be asked about his family straight off, and if he failed to provide an answer …

Well, going through Collonello's training once was difficult enough without multiple repeats!

'Calm down,' he thought to himself, to stop his hyperventilating. His family was starting to notice, judging from Gokudera's worried frown and the absence of Yamamoto's smile. 'He's not starting school for another week, don't worry …'

He was knocked back into reality by an annoyed cough.

"Ahh!" He jumped, his eyes widening in surprise, before forming naturally into a kind smile. "Hello, Seto-san, Mokuba-kun."

Mokuba smiled brightly. "Hi, Sawada-san, Gokudera-san, Yamamoto-san!"

* * *

Yugi hung back as the rest of the greetings were exchanged, waiting patiently for his introduction. It wasn't too long in coming; soon, the boy he deduced was 'Tsunayoshi Sawada'-san by the obvious reverence his companions showed him, turned towards Yugi with a smile and a hand held out in greeting.

"And you must be Mutou Yugi-san, right?" the boy smiled. "I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi; it's good to meet you." Yugi took the outstretched hand with a smile of his own and a slight bow, blushing slightly at how tidy the other boy was. Yugi himself was no slouch when it came to personal presentation, but this boy didn't seem to have a single hair out of place. It was rather like Seto-kun, he thought, just with a far friendlier attitude. Then he felt like smacking himself; of course the boy seemed well-groomed, he was a CEO!

"Ah! Umm … yeah, I am, and it's nice to meet you too," Yugi replied a bit hesitantly and a bit later than what politeness demanded. "These are Yami-kun, Bakura-kun and Malik-kun," he pointed to each child in turn, letting go of Sawada-san's hand.

Sawada-san smiled softly at the toddlers, before turning to the two boys following him. "These are Gokudera Hayato-kun and Yamamoto Takeshi-kun."

The scowling boy stuck out his hand almost rudely, muttering a barely audible 'Hello.'

The black haired, taller boy smiled instead. "Hi, I'm Yamamoto Takeshi. Sorry for Gokudera there, he's always like that, ha-ha!"

"Oi, baseball idiot! What did you just say?" Gokudera-san growled, and soon a one-sided argument started between the two (one sided because Gokudera-san shouted, while Yamamoto-san just laughed). Yugi watched them with amusement and more than just a bit of nostalgia. Gokudera-san's anger towards Yamamoto-san seemed almost like Jounochi's arguments with Kaiba-kun.

Watching the older boys seemed to scare the children, as both Bakura and Malik had decided to hide behind Yugi. But Yami just stood next to them, a miniature solemn guardian seemingly contemplating something. He seemed to come to a conclusion. Copying Yugi, he also stuck out his hand, looked straight up at Sawada-san and spoke softly.

"Hello. I'm Yami."

Yugi's eyes widened in pleasant surprise. None of the children had talked to others besides Yugi and each other without a lot of prodding, unless it was to cry. But he also worried; Yami was, for all appearances, a two-year-old child rather than a more-than-two-millennium-old pharaoh. But his speech was so clear and polite, making him sound far older than he was. He could pass off as a genius, but that could potentially give away their anonymity. If they became suspicious …!

But Sawada-san seemed to take it in stride, kneeling down so he was a bit closer to the toddler and shaking his hand. "Hello, Yami-kun. How do you do?"

Yami scowled, and spoke again, this time in Italian. "I am not a child."

_This_ made Sawada-san blink, and Yugi felt like hitting his head. Yami just had to tempt fate, like he did in his old life. Well, he mused, at least now he knew that the boys' previous vocabulary and personalities weren't changed.

Yugi wanted to sigh in relief when Tsuna simply laughed. "No, I don't suppose you are," he replied in the same language, a thoughtful expression on his face.

But the reply seemed to incite Bakura, who scowled, and turned to Gokudera-san. "Hi. Bakura," he ground out in his high-pitched, childish voice. Gokudera-san hissed, annoyed, and the two turned away from each other. This seemed to entertain Sawada-san greatly, as he chuckled quietly.

Malik's eyes, however, filled with tears at what he perceived as being left out. Seeing this, Yugi bent down and picked the child up, whispering softly in his ear, before sending him towards Yamamoto-san. Malik took a few stumbling steps, before stuttering out, "H-hi. I'm Malik." Yamamoto-san laughed, and swooped down to lift Malik above his head. Malik squeaked at the touch, and his lips started wobbling. Soon, a wail filled the air.

Yamamoto-san looked at the child in concern, quickly bringing him down to the ground again. "Hey, what's wrong, little guy?" he asked, before Yugi quickly intercepted and hugged Malik tightly, whispering again in the child's ear in Arabic. The familiar language seemed to somewhat calm down the child, and soon the sobs died down to bare whimpers. Yugi was only glad that he acted fast enough so that the other two didn't start as well.

However, the other two had run up to him at the first wail, burying themselves into Yugi's clothes as Yugi hugged Malik. Yugi sighed. At least they were all safe.

* * *

Seeing that Yugi was busy, Tsuna turned to Seto-san, smiling softly. "Shall we go to the estate? I'm sure the children are tired and would appreciate time to settle in. You and your brother will be staying the night too, I hope?"

Seto-san seemed to consider Tsuna for a while, before snorting, but remaining polite as he replied, "We thank you for your kind hospitality, Sawada-san."

* * *

**A/N: Err … yeah; I'm trying to stay in the 3000-4000 range every chapter, so chapter sizes will remain mostly similar, though sometimes for style an extremely short chapter or an extremely long chapter after a long absence may be posted. Well, that's chapter two done with;** **can't say I'm not relieved. There was a change in perspective in the chapter. I don't like writing in one person's perspective for more than a chapter, and I'm not going to put in whose perspective it is all the time. Anyway, the perspectives will be mostly Yugi's and Tsuna's, but without all the 'I' and 'My' parts (you could call it third perspective, of God perspective as I include thoughts more often than not). You can see how relationships develop and change by the honorifics I use. **

**Additionally – there will be no Vongola Gear in my story. I've already revealed some of the current weapons in this chapter, but we don't actually know what Hibari's … well, I'm actually inclined to say accessory (as that's what all of their new 'gear' is) actually is (and does). So Shimon never discovered their rings and have resolved their differences in more … peaceful ways. Yamamoto was never attacked, the rings were never destroyed. The earthquake happened, but at a slightly smaller magnitude (not enough to crack the ground). More like an ordinary earthquake in Japan than anything astronomical. **

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**


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